Proposal for change to OSD#9

Rick Moen rick at linuxmafia.com
Sun Aug 26 22:03:13 UTC 2007


Quoting Nils Labugt (elabu at online.no):

> I agree that this is problematic. Has the question of what makes one
> piece of software a derivative work of another one been settled in any
> jurisdiction yet?

Yes.  In United States jurisdictions, if you want to know _exactly_ what 
makes one creative work a derivative of another, read relevant
caselaw such as Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc.,
FN53: 982 F.2d 693, 23 USPQ2d 1241 2d Cir. 1992 and Gates Rubber v.
Bando Chemical, FN57: 9 F.3d 823, 28 USPQ2d 1503 10th Cir. 1993, in the
context of an understanding of copyright law.  (If you don't have an
understanding of copyright law, you'll need to acquire that, first.)

If you merely want to know in general terms what "derivative work"
means, apply common sense.




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